


Sweet Scent

by Qzil



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Arranged Marriage, F/M, High School
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-28
Updated: 2015-10-28
Packaged: 2018-04-28 14:12:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5093675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Qzil/pseuds/Qzil
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Castiel wakes up naked in the park exactly a month after he’s been bitten by a large dog, and discovers that there are such thing as werewolves.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sweet Scent

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the MSR Halloween challenge. Prompt was 'full moon'

Castiel squeezed his eyes shut harder and wrinkled his nose when he felt bright, warm sunlight spill across his face. Birds were twittering somewhere in the background, and they were being obnoxiously loud about it. He groaned and rolled onto his side, hoping to get away from the sun, and groped for his pillow. 

His fingers hit grass. 

Castiel opened his eyes and shot up into a sitting position. There were trees all around him, cool, dewy grass under him, and he heard sprinklers starting somewhere far away. Worst of all, he was naked. 

In the middle of the park. 

_Again._

“God _damnit!,_ ” he shouted, slamming his fist into the soft ground under him. “How does this keep happening?”

Picking himself up, Castiel began the familiar trek home from the park, ducking into the trees in order to avoid people. It was just after dawn, so the odds of anyone being in the park were low, but he still didn’t want anyone to see him. He knew that, once he got closer to his own neighborhood, there would be more people out and about, heading to work and school. 

Luckily, he’d stashed some clothes in the branches of a forked tree at the edge of the path the night before. After waking up naked in the park two mornings in a row, he’d wanted to be prepared.

Pulling on the sweatpants and thin t-shirt that he’d stored in the tree, Castiel swiftly jogged down the path. He had no shoes, since he only owned two pairs of sneakers, one for gym and one for home, but the small stones and twigs on the path didn’t bother his feet. It was as though they’d become tougher overnight. He moved faster, too, running without as much effort. His sense of smell seemed to have improved as well, and his hearing was oddly better. 

But he would get rid of all of it if it meant that he would stop waking up naked in the park. 

It was the third morning in a row that it had happened, and Castiel was getting sick of it. He thought about going to his parents, and telling them that he was sleepwalking, leaving out the part about him waking up naked in the park. He figured it was probably stress-induced, since his classes had gotten more difficult, colleges had started sending letters, and his SAT scores hadn’t come back yet. He’d read that stress could cause all sorts of changes. 

Slipping back into his neighborhood, Castiel cautiously looked around for his parents, glanced across the street to make sure none of his neighbors were out, and sprinted to the side of the house. It was normally difficult to climb the trellis, but Castiel’s strength had seemed to double over the last few nights. 

Anna was waiting for him in his bedroom. She was already dressed for school in a long, green sweater and tan knit pants. Her coppery hair was pulled back in a neat braid, and her makeup was perfect. Castiel looked down at his dirt-covered feet self-consciously. 

“I think I know what it is,” Anna began, not bothering to ask Castiel where he’d woken up or how he’d gotten home. “I reviewed the tape.”

Anna had been the only person that Castiel had told about his little adventure, and she had insisted on leaving the webcam of his laptop on all night to see just what was going on. Swallowing hard, Castiel sat down on his bed. 

“Well? Am I a sleepwalking nudist?”

Anna pursed her lips. “You’re a werewolf.”

Castiel blinked at his sister in disbelief. “What?”

“You turned into a goddamned wolf and left the room. You must’ve gotten out through the backdoor, or something,” Anna explained. “Go ahead and watch the tape, Cas.”

Castiel hesitated, but walked over to his laptop, anyway, and started the video. Anna leaned over his shoulder and fast-forwarded it, stopping it when his still form started to writhe on the bed. Castiel watched with a mix of fascination and horror as he fell off the mattress and twisted around. His hands and feet changed shape, his face elongated, and his ears began to travel up to the top of his head, becoming pointed. Fur sprouted from his skin, and his pajama bottoms began to tear. 

When it was over, a large, black wolf stood up on all fours, shook its head, and headed for his bedroom door. 

Anna stopped the video. “Werewolf.”

Stunned, Castiel sank down in his chair. “There’s no such thing as werewolves.”

Anna lightly patted his arm. “Hey, it’s okay. We’ll figure out what to do. There must be some cure, or something. But no full moon tonight, so you should be okay. No waking up naked in the park. You still have to go to school, though. We can buckle down and do some research when we get home.”

Castiel let out a huff and stood. “I still don’t believe it. I just–it isn’t possible.”  
Anna’s mouth settled into a grim line. “Clearly it is. My question is: How did it happen?”

Castiel drew up the leg of his sweatpants and showed Anna the small, circular scar on his calf. “I was coming home from Dean’s last month and this huge dog ran out of the woods and bit me. I didn’t see it that well, since it was dark, even with the moon, but the bite did hurt quite a bit.”

“You didn’t think to go to the hospital?” Anna screeched. “What if it had rabies?”

“Clearly it didn’t,” Castiel said dryly. “I just made sure to clean it out and go to bed. Besides, the dog wasn’t frothing at the mouth or anything.”

“That was stupid,” Anna chastised. “Really, really stupid.”

“I know!” he groaned. 

“And now you’re going through a second puberty!” Anna continued. “You could be dead, Castiel! Rabies kills people!”

Castiel glared at her. “Well, I’m a werewolf. Punishment enough?”

Anna glared right back, but looked away first. “Fine. Get ready for school. We’ll figure stuff out later.”

.

School was a nightmare. 

Castiel, exhausted from presumably staying up all night and from the change, had only half-focused on his classes. His partner for his English assignment, Tom Masters, had been absent that day as well, along with this twin sister, Meg, and a handful of other students, which meant that he was stuck attempting to plan their presentation alone. Halfway through six period, his teacher gently but firmly recommended he go to the nurse’s office, saying he looked sick. 

He had no fever, but the nurse had him lay down on the cot for a while, anyway, which was her default treatment. Castiel spent most of sixth and seventh periods napping, and felt much better when the nurse shook him awake. He was still sluggish when the bell rang, but luckily his older brother, Gabriel, was feeling nice enough to drive he and Anna home. Normally he made them walk, saying that it ‘built character’. 

Castiel simply suspected that Gabriel was lonely since their elder cousin, Balthazar, had returned home to England for the new school year and their other brother, Luc, had gone away to college. Once they were home, Castiel diligently tried to concentrate on his homework, but Anna had other plans. 

“I went to the library on my lunchbreak and couldn’t really find any books on werewolfism that weren’t crappy teen romance novels,” she told him. “So, looks like we’ll have to hit the Internet.”

“I think it’s called lycanthropy,” Castiel corrected gently. Anna opened her laptop and glared. 

“Same difference. Both suck. Get to looking.”

Castiel glared at Anna, but began to do his research, anyway. He had a whole month to find things out about his new condition, and find a way to prevent himself from waking up naked outside again. They searched for hours, until their mother called them for dinner, and then continued searching late into the night, until it was impossible for them to keep their eyes open. 

They found nothing conclusive. Some sites said that werewolves never remembered changing, some sites said that, after a few months, the infected person would begin remembering their change. Some sites said that werewolves could control their change, and even shift outside of the full moon. Some sites said they couldn’t. 

Anna proposed tests. 

“Tomorrow I’ll dig out that silver locket grandma gave me and see if it burns your skin,” she said. “Are you feeling any aversion to crosses?”

“I’m not a vampire, Anna.”

“Well, you never know. We could try wolfsbane, but that might kill you. So we’ll have to stick to silver.”

Castiel shuddered. When he went to bed that night, he noticed how different the sheets smelled. He could smell the fabric softener his mother used, but he could also smell other scents on them. Gradually, he began piecing them together, pressing his nose against the material and inhaling. It took a while, but he separated the scents into Anna and his mother and himself. Each one was unique, and each one smelled good and comforting and homey. Another smell permeated the house, and he eventually came to understand that it was his family’s collective, unique scent. 

He could also hear better. The small sounds that he had never noticed before, like the rumbling of the heat coming out of the vent and the gentle creak of the stairs were perfectly clear. And, although his room was dark, he could see almost perfectly in the faint light of the waning moon. 

“Okay,” he said out loud. “There are some cool things about being a werewolf.” 

.

Tom was thankfully at his desk the next day, and seemed ready to work on their English project. Castiel tried to push his concerns about his condition aside and focus on school, but it was really, really hard with his new senses. They had been dulled the day before, due to his exhaustion, but after a full night’s sleep, his body seemed to have gone into overdrive. 

He could smell, hear, and see everything. 

Perfume and cologne that hadn’t bothered him before now made him sneeze, his classmate’s individual scents and the collective scent of so many teenage bodies overwhelmed his nose. Before, the scratch of a pencil or the repeated clicking of pens had been a minor annoyance, but now they sounded as loud as thunder. The florescent lights of the school, which used to be dull, now seemed blindingly bright. 

“Dude, are you sick, or something?” Tom asked as they attempted to make their poster. “You keep staring off in the distance and holding your breath.”

“I might be,” Castiel said evenly. He was trying to breathe very little, and only through his mouth. He was sick of smelling things. 

Then he noticed another scent. It was different from the scents around him, different from floor polish and teenager and makeup and perfume. It smelled almost like himself, but not quite. Wilder, almost, like an animal. 

He looked up and noticed Tom staring at him with an odd look in his eyes. The boy’s small nose wrinkled repeatedly, and Castiel realized that he was sniffing, too. 

“Did you happen to get bit by a large dog a month ago?” Tom blurted. Castiel automatically flinched. 

“Why do you ask?”

“No reason. Curious.”

“I haven’t been bitten by anything recently, no,” he lied. Tom narrowed his eyes at him, but nodded and returned to his project. They shuffled out with the rest of the students when the bell rang, Castiel nearly colliding with Tom’s twin sister, Meg. 

Castiel stepped back in shock. Meg was normally very well groomed, but today she looked as if she’d gone through the wringer. Her long, dark hair was tangled and pulled back into a hasty ponytail, and there were dark circles under her eyes. Her round face, so different from her brother’s narrow, square one, seemed to droop. She’d hidden her generous figure under a baggy, gray sweatshirt and a loose pair of jeans. 

“Clarence,” she greeted. She sounded congested, and her eyelids drooped. 

“Where’s Tom?”

“Castiel,” he corrected automatically. Meg waved her hand in a dismissive gesture, grabbing her brother when he emerged from the classroom. “I’m going home.”

“Meg, you can’t. We can’t afford to miss days. You know that,” Tom said gently. “Just make it through two more periods and you’ll be here long enough for it to count as a day.”

Castiel watched Meg give her brother a tired glare. Tom was taller than her, and thinner, practically all limbs. Despite the fact that they were barely juniors, the boy had the makings of an impressive beard. He bent to whisper something in Meg’s ear, his dark hair mingling with hers. 

Meg turned and shot Castiel a skeptical look. She shook her head and abandoned Tom, brushing past Castiel as she did. 

He could smell the sick on her, but he could also smell female, and the same, wild scent that Tom possessed. But under all of that there was something else, something even wilder. Darker. It was one of the most wonderful things he had ever smelled in his life, and he didn’t have a name for it. 

He took an unconscious step toward Meg before Tom gripped his arm and pulled him back. 

“You must be sick. Our Chem class is the other way,” Tom said. “You know, we should hang out more often. Why don’t you come out to the farm this weekend?”

Puzzled, Castiel glanced over at Tom. While they were friendly with each other, the other boy had never expressed any desire to spend time with Castiel outside of school. In fact, Castiel had never seen Tom hang around with anyone other than his sister, their cousin Ruby, and a handful of other kids. Neither of the Masters siblings seemed involved in the community, having never shown up to football games or community fairs. They seemed to live in their own, isolated little world. Their father, Azazel, owned a bunch of land that had once been a sort of farm, but had miles of untamed woods around it. 

“I’m not sure if I can get away. Homework. Plus, I’d need a ride.”

“You could ride home with Meg and I after school on Friday,” Tom suggested. 

“It’ll be easier to get all the Chem homework done with the two of us working on it.”

Castiel perked up at that. Tom was very good with Chemistry. Castiel was not. 

“I’ll have to ask my mother. I’ll let you know tomorrow.”

. 

The silver experiments yielded no results. His skin didn’t burn with contact from the metal, nor did Castiel feel any itching or break out in hives. Anna ran out of ideas, and suggested lining the doors and windows with wolfsbane on the next full moon to prevent Castiel from escaping. 

Gradually, Castiel grew used to his new senses. The new smells and sounds weren’t terribly overwhelming. 

Meg Masters still smelled amazing. 

Her cold had begun clearing up, and while her nose was still stuffy, she no longer smelled like sickness. Instead that dark, wild scent seemed to flow from her, and when she wore a scoop neck shirt on Thursday, it took all of Castiel’s self-control not to lean over and sniff her. The source of the smell seemed to be somewhere around where her neck and shoulder joined on the right side, and it made him want to press his nose to it and inhale, made him want to lick her skin and bite her. 

He wasn’t quite sure if it was normal teenage hormones or his change. He’d always thought that Meg was pretty, but she’d never given him the time of day. Like Tom, she always seemed to be hanging around with the same, tight-knit group of kids. 

By Friday, Castiel noticed that her cold had completely let up. Meg’s eyes widened when Castiel slipped into the backseat of Tom’s pickup, and her nostrils flared as soon as Castiel closed the door. 

She turned and looked at Tom with wide eyes. “Oh, shit.”

Tom nodded. “Oh, shit indeed. I told you so.”

Confused, Castiel looked between the two siblings, and was even more startled when they began rapidly speaking to each other in a language he couldn’t identify. Sadly, he didn’t understand a word of the conversation they were having as Tom rolled the pickup out of the parking lot and drove them toward the farm. About halfway there, Meg undid her seatbelt and bonelessly slithered into the backseat. She pressed her face close to his and inhaled deeply. Her eyes had changed, taking on a yellowish hue. 

She cursed in her foreign language and slithered back into the front seat like nothing had happened. Castiel wondered if he should try to jump out of the moving car and call for rescue. 

“You did get bit by a dog around a month ago. Only it wasn’t a dog. It was a wolf,” Tom said quietly. “And since then you’ve been noticing different things, right?”

Castiel swallowed hard. “Yes.”

“We can trace our bloodlines back to the old country, you know,” Tom continued casually, as if his sister hadn’t moved. “Originally from what’s now Switzerland. What you just heard is a form of German.”

“We’ll explain everything once we get to the house,” Meg elaborated. “Also, I’m not very good at apologies, so I’ll say it now. Sorry for the whole thing.”

Castiel figured she was referring to her terrifying maneuver. “That’s okay.”

Meg glanced back at him. Her eyes looked yellower and rounder, and her teeth sharper. The smell of wild things filled the truck. “Not really.”

Castiel swallowed hard again. “I’m not following.”

Tom pulled the truck down a long, winding driveway that ran through the woods. “You’ll see. Dad’ll explain everything to you. I promise.”

Castiel had only seen Meg and Tom’s dad a handful of times in his life, when the man had come to pick his children up from school. The only thing he could remember about the man was that he had pale yellow eyes, and seemed to move more smoothly than a human. 

Eventually, the graveled driveway ended, opening up into a small clearing. Birds twittered, and when Castiel exited the truck he could only smell the sweet, sharp scents of nature. The siblings sild from the truck, exchanged a silent glance, and walked toward the house without waiting to see if Castiel would follow. 

Seeing no other option, he did. The house was a small, two-story building with a porch that badly needed paint. There were a couple of chairs set out, along with a table that held a recently used ashtray. Lawn equipment was propped up along the side of it. 

Azazel Masters waited for them in the doorway, a scowl on his heavily-lined face. The man had less hair than Castiel remembered, and his broad nose flared when Castiel stepped near. Azazel turned and fixed his gaze on his daughter, who seemed to shrink. 

“You fucked up big time, kid,” was all he said, but Castiel saw Meg flinch as though she had been slapped. Azazel barked something at her in German, and Meg snarled, beginning to argue in the same language, stopping when her father raised his hand. 

“I smelled it on him,” Tom said. “Meg did, too, just now.”

Azazel gave his daughter a long look and crossed his arms over his chest. “Change.”

Meg’s mouth opened in surprise. “Dad, I don’t think–“

“Change,” Azazel ordered, once again silencing her by only raising his hand. Meg glared at her father, but reached down and pulled her lavender sweater over her head. Castiel took a step back, but Tom reached out and grabbed him to hold him in place. 

“Just watch,” he whispered as Meg stripped out of her jeans and underthings. 

Once she was naked, she crouched in the dirt and squeezed her eyes shut. The air around her body seemed to quiver as goosebumps sprang up on her pale skin. Fur sprouted on her body, her face elongated and her teeth sharpened, her ears moved up and a tail began to sprout. A strange, glopy sound reached Castiel’s ears, and it sounded like someone stirring something hard through thick liquid. 

The haze cleared and Meg was gone. Standing in her place was a large, black wolf. It shook its head and trotted over to Castiel. 

He felt his eyes roll up in his head and saw the ground rushing up to meet him as he fainted. 

. 

The first thing Castiel was aware of was that he was resting on a soft surface. 

Groaning, he sat up and rubbed his eyes, automatically sniffing the air. It smelled like the strange, wild scent that had been wafting from Meg and Tom the last few days. 

Then he realized what it was. The scent of werewolf. 

His eyes flew open and darted around the space. Someone had carted him into the Masters’ home and put him on the couch in the living room. The walls were a soft, soothing brown, and the furniture, while old, was clearly good quality, and most of it was a cheery green. Landscape paintings lined the wall, there were family pictures on the mantle above the fireplace, and a large TV on a stand pushed up against the wall opposite the couch. 

Meg was perched on the coffee table, wearing an orange dress and cheery, bright orange cardigan. She looked absolutely miserable, but smelled amazing. 

“You’re a werewolf,” Castiel breathed. “Your whole family.”

She nodded. “I’m the one that bit you. I don’t always have the best impulse control in that form. I was chasing a rabbit.”

“What were you doing in town, if you have so much space here?” he asked. 

“I was at the library and I didn’t realize how late it’d gotten. I changed as soon as the moon hit me when I stepped outside. I can change at other times, but when the full moon is out, we have to change.” She paused and took a deep breath. “It was an accident.”

“It doesn’t matter if it was. That makes the boy one of us now,” Azazel said, stepping into the room. He sank into the armchair next to the couch and nodded at Meg. She wordlessly stood and settled herself on the couch next to Castiel, taking his hand. 

Azazel looked him up and down. “Well, he ain’t an unattractive boy. Good blood to bring into the community.”

Puzzled, Castiel tried to take his hand from Meg’s. She gripped it harder. Castiel knew he wasn’t bad looking, but didn’t know why Meg’s father was commenting on his appearance. Castiel had inherited his grandfather’s dark-brown hair and bright blue eyes, and his own father’s strong, square jaw and slightly clefted chin. His mother had always told him that he would have to beat the girls off with a stick. 

That hadn’t happened. In fact, having Meg’s hand in his was the first time he’d even held hands with a girl. 

Azazel brushed his hands together as if ridding them of dirt. “Well, can’t be helped now. We’ve gotta deal with the consequences. I’m sure you have a lot of questions, kid. What’s your name?”

“Castiel Milton,” he said slowly. “Will I keep waking up naked in the park?”

Azazel shook his head. “From now on, you come here at the full moon. We’ll watch you. You’ll be in full control of yourself within a few months. The first few changes are always the hardest to deal with, and you won’t remember them. Nobody does.”

“Are you three the only werewolves?”

“There are about thirty of us, give or take a few youngsters that haven’t gone through the change yet,” Azazel explained. “Werewolfism manifests at puberty if you’re born into it. There are a couple of other bittens in the pack, but most of the members are born ones. Not all of them run here, of course. Some are loners. If you don’t want to be a member of this pack, then once you’re in full control of yourself, you’re free to be like them. But we’re obligated to help you, since Meg bit you. If you do choose to stay, I am the leader of this pack, and I am the one you are answerable to.”

Castiel nodded. “If I bite somebody else, will I change them?”

“No,” Azazel assured him. “Only someone who was born with the power can pass it on.”

“Can I be cured?”

Azazel’s eyes widened, and Meg’s grip on Castiel’s hand increased until it was almost painful. They both looked insulted. 

“No,” Azazel said firmly. “And don’t ever say anything like that in my house again. Now, there’s the other little matter of you and Meg.”

Castiel tried to pull his hand away again. “What about us?”

“If you join the pack, you marry her.”

Meg refused to look at him. Shocked, Castiel finally managed to rip his hand from Meg’s grasp. “What?”

“You’re her responsibility,” Azazel explained patiently. “It’s an old custom, but as you’ll learn, we are very fond of the old customs here. That’s why our line has lasted so long. Lycanthropy goes back to the very first members of our family, Castiel. Keeping the old customs alive is what has allowed us to flourish. If a wolf turns a person, they take responsibility for them. Full responsibility.” 

“That’s only supposed to be for males who turn females,” Meg muttered. 

Azazel gave her a steady look and barked something in German. Meg’s spine stiffened and she hung her head. “Fine.”

“Besides,” Azazel continued. “You’re attracted to my daughter. Tom tells me that you keep smelling her. We need new blood in the pack, anyway. There’s been too much interbreeding. My eyes can barely pass for human anymore, and Lilith’s change is triggered at a moment’s notice. It’s gotten so bad that we can’t even send her to school.”

Castiel distantly recalled Lilith Masters. She was one of Tom’s cousins, and had only attended classes up until ninth grade, when she’d been taken out. Rumors had swirled for a while until Tom had told everyone she was being homeschooled because she was ill. 

“You’re one of us now,” Azazel said gently. “We look out for our own. I will teach you our history, and our ways. We will offer you protection from those who seek to destroy us. In return, you will obey, and you will help us grow and florish.”

“I don’t even know Meg,” Castiel protested. 

“You’ll get to know her. There isn’t a better woman in the pack. We’ve already had offers for her hand.” Azazel’s voice was firm, and Castiel sensed that the man would hear no protests. Azazel stood and sighed. “There’s been enough excitement today. Meg will take you home. You’re welcome to come back any time before the full moon if you have more questions.”

He left then, leaving Castiel alone with Meg. She shrugged. 

“I know it sucks. Sorry, or whatever. Have you really been smelling me?”

“You do smell really, really good,” Castiel admitted. “But I don’t want to marry you. I’m only sixteen years old. I don’t want to marry anyone. I’ve never even kissed a girl.”

Meg’s eyes widened. “Seriously, Clarence?”

“Castiel,” he corrected automatically. Meg waved her hand dismissively and raised herself off the couch, moving so she was standing close to him. Castiel went to take a step back, but Meg grabbed his arm and held him in place. She was stronger than she looked. 

She pushed herself up onto her toes “Close your eyes.”

He did, stiffening when Meg softly pressed her lips to his. The kiss lasted only a moment, but Castiel kept his eyes closed when Meg pulled away. She smelled even better up close, and this time Castiel didn’t resist his impulse to smell her. Opening his eyes, he bent his head and nosed aside the collar of her cardigan to press his nose against the spot where her neck and shoulder joined. 

Meg stroked his head and let him smell her. Castiel felt her shiver when he ran his tongue over the spot. 

“Not in the house!” Azazel barked. Castiel jumped away from Meg and saw her father standing in the doorway, glaring at him. He felt his face flush and dropped his gaze to his sneakers. Meg didn’t look away from her father, but said something rapidly in German. 

“What did you say to him?” Castiel asked as they clambered into the truck.   
Meg shrugged. “Nothing. You know you can’t tell anyone about this, right?”

“That might be a problem. My sister already knows.”

Meg slammed on the breaks, sending Castiel sliding forward. “Meg? What’s wrong?”

“That is not good,” she told him, turning the car around and heading back toward her house. “Dad needs to know about that. It’s bad enough that we have to bring you in, but now we need to decide what to do about Anna.”  
Castiel felt his heart sink into his belly. 

.

Anna was sitting at the kitchen table when Meg finally dropped him off back home. She had her textbooks spread out around her, diligently working on her homework. The rest of the house was quiet. 

“Where is everyone?”

“Mom’s got the youngest two at ballet,” Anna said. “Gabriel’s at a friend’s. Did you get all your homework done at Tom’s?”

Castiel was glad that his mother had his two youngest siblings, twin girl named Hannah and Hael, out of the house, and that Gabriel was gone. There was no chance of them being overheard. 

“Meg and Tom and her father are all werewolves, Meg is the one who bit me, they’re going to help me, and also I think I got engaged today,” he explained rapidly. Anna blinked slowly at him. 

“Okay, why don’t we start over?”

Castiel took a deep breath and explained his day. When he was finished, Anna put her pencil down and pursed her lips. 

“Well, you don’t have to marry her. Azazel said that you don’t have to be a member of his pack. Just learn to control yourself and we can find a way to keep it a secret. I don’t think you can stay in your room on full moon nights, but maybe you can make it back to under the window near dawn, or something. Or we could lock you in somewhere like they did to Oz on Buffy,” she suggested. 

“That’s not the end of it,” Castiel said. “Azazel told me that I have to bring you out there tomorrow for a ‘little chat’ with him and his kids. He told me that we basically have two choices, when it comes to you, since you know the secret. Either you become a werewolf, too, or they’ll…eliminate you.”

Anna’s eyes widened and she swallowed hard. “What?”

“It’s an old custom,” he explained. “To protect the pack. Either you join it, or they eliminate the threat.”

Anna took a deep breath. “Well, it can’t be that bad.”

“You’ll be in the same boat as me. You’ll have to marry and have kids with whoever bites you.”

“It could be worse. I could be dead.”

“We could go to the police,” Castiel suggested. 

“And tell them what? That Azazel Masters threatened to kill me because I knew he was a werewolf? They’ll think we’re playing some sort of prank. Cas, I don’t really see a choice here.”

Castiel’s shoulders slumped. “I’m sorry. I did this to you by sharing my worries.”

Anna took his hand. “You’re my brother. We’re family, Cas. We do what has to be done. Besides, we don’t have to join their pack. We could break off once we’re in control of ourselves. Form our own.”

“We’ll see.”

Anna sighed. “Whatever. Tomorrow, we’ll go turn me into a werewolf. Tonight, we finish our homework.”

. 

Meg picked them up the next day around noon. She was still rubbing sleep from her eyes when Anna and Castiel clambered into the truck, but she perked up when she saw Castiel, leaning over to give him a peck on the cheek. 

“Hey, baby. Little Red Riding Hood back there our newest packmember?”

Anna stiffened, but gave Meg a nervous smile. “I suppose.”

“Good, you’re too pretty to kill,” Meg told her. “Castiel give you the run down?”  
“Sort of.”

Meg nodded and began driving. “Well, dad put some calls out. You’re a lucky duck, Red. You’ll have a couple of our eligible bachelors to choose from. Well, more like they’ll be choosing you. Dad’s supposed to arrange things, but it’s mostly done by scent.”

“Scent?” Anna asked. Meg nodded. 

“Yeah. Whoever you’re supposed to mate with will smell really, really good to you. Like, ridiculously good. You’ll want to take a big bite out of them right when you smell them.”

Anna raised her eyebrows and looked at her brother. “Oh, really?”

Meg nodded. “Yes, really.”

Anna had a little smile on her face for the rest of the ride, while Castiel stayed silent. When they pulled into the clearing where Meg’s house stood, Azazel was waiting for them on the front porch with several wolves lounging at his feet. Castiel heard Anna swallow loudly from the back seat. 

“C’mon, Red. Let’s go find out who your big, bad wolf is,” Meg said cheerfully. It was chilly that day, but she didn’t seem to feel the cold, having pulled on a purple tank top and a pair of shorts. Strangely, Castiel felt comfortable in just a t-shirt and jeans, and he wondered if increased resistance to the cold was a werewolf thing as well. 

The wolves all raised their heads when Anna slid from the backseat. Azazel looked her up and down, and then nodded. 

“Come to me, child,” he ordered softly. Anna obeyed and stepped forward, while Meg slipped to Castiel’s side and took his hand in a warning grip. The wolves swarmed off the porch and surrounded Anna, but they kept their distance, eyes fixed on her. Azazel stood on the top step. 

“Hello, Mr. Masters,” Anna said. Azazel smiled. 

“Castiel has told you what we are. The penalty for that is death of the betrayer and death of the human. However, he is not yet pack, so he is not yet bound to our laws, so I will give you a choice. Do you choose death, or transformation?”

“Transformation,” Anna answered smoothly, although Castiel could tell that she was nervous. There was a strange, spicy scent coming from her. 

“I can smell your fear,” Azazel continued. “Do not be afraid, child. Please, sit, and roll up the sleeve of your sweater, or the leg of your jeans, if you prefer.”

Anna sat on the ground, crossed her legs, and rolled up the sleeve of her forest-green sweater. Castiel watched as several of the wolves approached, bent to sniff her, and then stepped away. They were all different shades of gray or black, and each one bent to sniff her neck. When all of them had gone, they yipped among themselves for a moment before one of the large, black wolves stepped forward and whined softly, tail wagging. He put his head under Anna’s hand and encouraged him to pet her. 

Azazel let out a warning growl. It sounded strange coming from a human throat, but the wolf obeyed it and gave Anna a wolfy grin, its tongue lolling out. It leaned forward, gently took Anna’s arm in its jaws, and sank its teeth into her flesh hard enough to draw blood. Anna hissed and squeezed her eyes shut. The wolf removed its teeth, licked the wound, and stepped back. 

“That’s done,” Azazel announced. “The rest of you can go.”

The wolves yipped and ran off into the forest, presumably toward home. 

Azazel descended the stairs and bend to rest his hand on the back of the remaining wolf’s head. “Isn’t that interesting? Stand, child, and meet your intended.”

Anna did as she was told, trembling all the while. Blood trickled sluggishly from her arm. Azazel came to stand beside Meg and Castiel, his face expressionless as the air grew hazy around the wolf and he began to change. 

A few moments later, Tom Masters crouched naked at Anna’s feet. He smiled up at her. “You smell divine, Red.”

Anna took a step back, eyes squeezed shut. “Tom! You need to put some clothes on!”

“Tom will do that. Then we’ll go into the house and get that bite cleaned up,” Azazel promised. “You two have much to learn.”

He gently walked up to Anna and put his arms around her shoulders to guide her into the house. Meg followed, dragging Castiel with her. Tom licked his lips as he trotted into the house after them. 

“Did you think that I smelled really good?” Castiel asked Meg. She shrugged and got up on her tiptoes to press a quick kiss to his lips. 

“You always smelled heavenly.”


End file.
